Way to Go is an interactive experience for human beings between 5 and 105 years old. Maybe it lasts six minutes; maybe it lasts forever.
Way to Go is ready for your web browser and willing to go VR, if you're Rift-y. It is like a grey squirrel balanced on a branch, fearless. Made by Vincent Morisset, Caroline Robert, Édouard Lanctôt-Benoit and the studio AATOAA, visionary creators of BLA BLA and Arcade Fire's award-winning Just A Reflektor. Produced by the National Film Board of Canada, co-produced by France Televisions, with a mesmerizing soundtrack by Philippe Lambert, it is a game and a solace and an alarm, a wake-up call to the hazards of today. At a moment when we have access to so much, and see so little, Way to Go will remind you of all that lies before you, within you, in the luscious, sudden pleasure of discovery.
Shorter Description
Way to Go is a walk in the woods. It is an astonishing interactive experience, a restless panorama, a mixture of hand-made animation, 360˚ video capture, music and dreaming and code; but mostly it is a walk in the woods, c'mon. Created by Vincent Morisset, Philippe Lambert, Édouard Lanctôt-Benoit & Caroline Robert (AATOAA). Produced by the NFB & France TV.
FWA People's Choice Award 2015, Webby Award x 3 (Virtual Reality Game, Net Art and People's Voice for Net Art), Adobe Cutting Edge Award, FWA Site of the Month, Awwwards Site of the Day, Numix, Communication Arts Award, Kill Screen Playlist, Japan Media Art Festival (Jury Selection, Art Category), Communication Arts - Interactive Annual 2016, Boomerang (Grand Prize).
VR Presentations
The One and Only Vincent, Van Gogh Museum (Amsterdam), 5 November 2016
Vancouver International Film Festival, 4 October
Japan Media Arts Festival (Sapporo), 16-30 September
Pop3 presented by TIFF, Lightbox (Toronto), 19-21 August
Home Cinema, Gare Saint-Sauveur (Lille), 2 April - 26 June
Mutek (Montreal), 1-5 June
Virtuallty There, MIT Doc Lab (Boston), 6-7 May
Virtual Reality Garden at the Canada House (London), 16 Mar - 16 June
Festival international du film d'environnement (Paris), 5-12 April 2016
Sheffield International Documentary Festival, 5-10 June
Museum of the Moving Image (Queens), 18 April - 26 July
Killscreen Playlist Public Arcade (NYC), 28 April
FITC (Toronto), 12-14 April
Festival Exit (Créteil), 26 March - 5 April
Festival Via (Maubeuge), 12-22 March
White Rabbit (London), 11 March
Gaité Lyrique (Paris), 9 March
Semaine dont vous êtes le héros (Montreal), 2-6 March
Game Developers Conference (San Francisco), Mild Rumpus, 4-6 March
RVCQ (Montreal), 25-27 February
PHI Center (Montreal), 5 February
Sundance Festival (Park City), New Frontier, 22-31 January
Technologies
Javascript, html5, WebGL, THREE.js, Web Audio API
Dynamic control of 360° videos
83 custom shaders to change in real time lights, grain and visual effects
Infinite amount of 3D worlds rendered from drawings on paper
Custom system for integration and synchronization of 360° video mappings, 3D environments and 2.5D elements
Management and live mixing of thousands of sounds
Generative and interactive music score
Enveloppes, ADSR, filters and dynamic spacialisation
Sound granulation
Convolution and reverb
Unique techniques for video stiching of 360° shooting in narrow environments
Video analysis and tracking system for dynamic integration and creation of heightmaps and 3D scenes
Live video stabilization
WebVR - Adaptation for the Oculus Rift on a web browser
Gamepad API - Game console controllers connection to web browser
Platforms
Way to Go runs in a web browser. No installation is required.
Chrome, Mac OS, Windows, Linux, Oculus Rift friendly
Fast computer recommended
# Walking Simulator, Exploration, Music, 360 Video, VR, Hand-drawn animation, Casual, Single player, Free to play, Short
Preface
YOU ARE ON YOUR WAY.
Yes, you are on your way.
It is not your first journey but Way to Go is the next journey before you. A walk through strange country - strange, familiar, remembered, forgotten. It is a restless panorama, a disappearing path, a game and a feeling. Way to Go is a small experience that gets bigger as you uncover it.
And the trees will change their shape, and the sky will widen.
And you will fly.
We go away every day. We plunge through the city, skate down roads, tunneling toward a destination without remembering the quests we are on. A journey is a collection of moments - we are here, we are here, we are here, and yet we miss these moments. A journey is a collection of choices - turn here, stop here, choose here, and yet we surrender these choices.
What if we quit surrendering? What if we didn't miss?
Here is a world enclosed in a screen. Here is an adventure. A landscape of leaves and wildflowers, teeming with hidden life. A garden and a wilderness, a wistful blink of dream. You are Jean Painlevé, Marco Polo, Maria Merian. You are Alice, Sonic, Osvaldo Cavandoli. You are a visitor, a cartoon of face and limbs, and you are going on a walk.
Using hand-made animation, music, 360° capture technology and webGL sorcery, Way to Go imagines a dream-world of journeys. Walk, run, fly; crouch in the grass and remember what's hidden all around. Slip like a rumour from one place into another; chase your shadow; listen to the slow pulse of the metronome, black-clad, following in your wake.
Are you alone? Are you not alone? Are you dreaming or awake? Can you ever reach the mountains?
Can you see what's here before you?
Set out through woods and fields, sunlight and aurora, grey and colours.
Creation AATOAA Directed and shot byVincent Morisset Music and soundsPhilippe Lambert Creative coding and technologyÉdouard Lanctôt-Benoit Animations, drawings, macro videos and costumesCaroline Robert Rotoscopy and tracking Brandon Blommaert Additional masking Gregory Kaufman Texts Sean Michaels The characters in the video are Philippe Lambert, Édouard Lanctôt-Benoit, Vincent Morisset & Caroline Robert
Shot in Mauricie, Eastern Townships, the Laurentians and on the Mount Royal.
Made in Montreal in 2014.
Production NATIONAL FILM BOARD OF CANADA Executive Producer Hugues Sweeney Head of Production Marie-Pier Gauthier Head of Technologies Martin Viau Editorial Manager Valérie Darveau Administrator Marie-Andrée Bonneau Production Coordinators Dominique Brunet, Caroline Fournier & Perrine Bral Clerk, Interactive Productions Angel Carpio Marketing Manager Jenny Thibault Assisted by Karine Sévigny Information Technology Sergiu Raul Suciu Press Relations Nadine Viau & Melissa Than Technical Coordinator Mira Mailhot Sound Recording Geoff Mitchell Legal Services Christian Pitchen
Coproduction FRANCE TÉLÉVISIONS NOUVELLES ÉCRITURES
Boris Razon, Voyelle Acker & Cécile Deyon Production Administrator Sandrine Miguirian Communication Officer Antoine Allard Technical Advisor Emmanuel Souillat
Special thanks to Antoine Avril, Sach Baylin-Stern, Marc Bell, Andre Bendahan, Henri Bernadet, Matthieu Beaumont, Mario Bouchard, Monique Bourdon, Marie-Ève Brisson, Isabelle Brouillette, Frederic Chamberland, Victoria Catherine Chan, Marc-André Chaput, Chloé Fortin, Piero Frescobaldi, Aaron Koblin, Catherine Leduc, Jean-Guy Morisset, Jérémie Morisset, Paul Morisset, Ravenne Portail, Claudette Raymond, Yves Renaud, Chris Robertson, Dominic St-Amant, Laurence Simard, Monique Simard, Serge Simard, François Turcotte, Unit9, David Valiquette.
Biographies
Vincent Morisset
Vincent Morisset is a director and the founder of AATOAA studio. During the last decade, he pioneered interactive videos for Arcade Fire (Neon Bible, Sprawl II, Just a Reflektor). He also directed two feature films, MIROIR NOIR and INNI, a documentary on Sigur Rós. With the support of the NFB, in collaboration with Philippe Lambert, Édouard Lanctôt-Benoit and Caroline Robert, Vincent Morisset directed the award-winning film for computer BLA BLA. His work has been presented at the Museum of the Moving Image, MoMA, Gaîté lyrique, the National Taiwan Museum and at many festivals including Venice, Rotterdam, SXSW and IDFA. Vincent is also the instigator of the Digital Storytelling Manifesto. Way to Go is his latest project. vincentmorisset.com
Philippe Lambert
Born in Montreal, Philippe Lambert is an experimental vocalist and electronic music composer. His recordings have been published on Alien8Recordings, Robosapien Record and Los Discos Enfantasmes. Way to Go is his 3rd interactive project for the National Film Board of Canada, after BLA BLA (2011) and A Journal Of Insomnia (2013). These projects have been presented as interactive installations or musical performances at La Gaîté lyrique (Paris), Mutek (Montréal), IDFA (Amsterdam), Tribeca Film Festival (New York) and DOK Leipzig (Leipzig). black-mantra.com
Édouard Lanctôt-Benoit
Édouard Lanctôt-Benoit is a creative developer and a technical director specialized in interactive vidéos and installations. He started his career at Moment Factory in Montréal where he worked on various large-scale installations. Since 5 years, he is part of Vincent Morisset's team at AATOAA, for whom he collaborated to the development and the creation of interactive videos produced, amongst others, by the NFB (BLA BLA, 2011), Arcade Fire (Sprawl II, 2012) and the Google Creative Lab (Just A Reflektor, 2014). His work has been rewarded with prestigious prizes such as the Emmy Awards, Cannes Cyber Lions, South By Southwest and the Webby Awards. edouardlb.com
Caroline Robert
Caroline Robert is an art director and a crafter. For the past eight years, she has been working on all the projects of the studio AATOAA (including BLA BLA, Just a Reflektor and Sprawl II). Also, Caroline has been creating the visual identity for Arcade Fire. She designed the album artwork for Reflektor and « The Suburbs », which won a Grammy award for Best recording package of the year. Her work has been presented at the Museum of the Moving Image, Gaîté lyrique, the National Taiwan Museum and at many festivals including Rotterdam, SXSW, Japan Media Arts Festival and IDFA. caroline-robert.com
AATOAA (pronounced like “À toi” in French) is a Montreal-based studio founded by Vincent Morisset and dedicated to original digital productions. AATOAA is renowned for its groundbreaking experiences that merge film grammar and interactivity. Over the years, its team has developed acclaimed interactive videos, feature films, custom technologies and VR experiences. In addition to making their own creations, AATOAA works for inspiring clients such as Red Bull, Arcade Fire, Skrillex and Google. The studio has been awarded with an Emmy, the Art Directors Club Tomorrow Award, four Webbys and two SXSW awards. www.aatoaa.com
About the NFB
Beginning May 2, 2014, the National Film Board of Canada (NFB) marks 75 years of innovation and leadership in film and interactive media. The NFB is one of the world’s leading digital content hubs, creating groundbreaking interactive documentaries and animation, mobile content, installations and participatory experiences. NFB interactive productions and digital platforms have won 100 awards, including 10 Webbys. To access acclaimed NFB content, visit NFB.ca or download its apps for smartphones, tablets and connected TV.
About France Télévisions Nouvelles écritures
Three years after its creation, the direction of new writing and transmedia of France Télévisions opens a new chapter in its history.
With 90 online programs, 45 ongoing projects, almost 100 hours of available video, more than 400,000 dedicated players, and 27 awards, its strategy is now divided into three areas:
1- Develop large collective narratives or public service campaigns with France Télévisions channels.
2- Introduce original audio-visual works by uncovering new and unknown paths, including fiction through "Studio 4", documentaries through "Infracourts", or rerouted news on social networks.
3- Push narrative researchever further by integrating game and its inner workings into narration, by extending creation to networks and encouraging participation, and, especially, by grounding more and more programs in real life—outside and on the streets. Binaural recording and Oculus head-mounted displays have made it possible for new forms of immersive experiences and installations to take place. Spaces can now be reinvented through apps and augmented reality. Why? To ultimately change our perception of the world and to endow it with additional senses or dimensions, which, in turn, can change us. There are infinite creative horizons opening on the fringes of life and its representations. We scan these horizons with great exhilaration. nouvelles-ecritures.francetv.fr
